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Vil returned to his bedroom disappointed after his morning run. Surprisingly, his constant running companion, (and boyfriend) Jack Howl, had not shown up, even though Vil had been waiting for him at their usual spot. Jack hadn’t shown up later either. This was very unusual for him. Vil knew the wolf's determination, punctuality, and strong adherence to routine, so he was very surprised that his companion had not shown up.
"Could his alarm not work? Jack never sleeps late either. Then maybe that idiot lion gave him some urgent task or called him for an extraordinary Spelldrive training session?" Vil wondered to himself as he changed out of his training set for his uniform.
"But then he would have sent me a message, wouldn't he?" Vil checked his phone while arranging his hair in his usual style, but there was no new message next to Jack's name. Worry gripped his heart.
On his way to his first class, Vil scanned the flowing crowd of students with his sharp eyes - which made some students shiver - but he couldn't see the cute white ears or the fluffy white tail anywhere. Before lunch, he hadn't found his boyfriend during any of the breaks, even though he had looked everywhere for him.
By lunch, however, he had finally gotten tired of not being able to find the white wolf anywhere, so he began a deeper search. First, he decided to hunt down Jack's classmate and good friend, Epel. In a no less kind way, Vil slammed his hands on the table where Epel and the other first-year spuldings were sitting.
“V-Vil-san?” Epel blinked at his housewarden in fear. "Oh, what have I done again? Didn't I put on my uniform properly?! Or is my hair not done properly?! Oh dear Sevens!" Epel panicked in his mind while waiting for his verdict.
“Tell me, Epel, did you see Jack somewhere today?” Vil asked. Epel let out a relieved sigh. His scary leader only wanted to know his friend's whereabouts. Although he shouldn't have acted so scary for that.
“No, I didn't see him today. He didn't even come in for class. Could he be sick? But I honestly don't know anything about it.”
“SICK?!” Vil asked in shock and slammed his hands on the table again. Epel jumped in fear. “I'm sorry Vil-san! I don’t know anything more, really!”
Vil scanned the other first-year spuldings, hoping they could provide some information, but none of them spoke, so Vil stormed straight towards Savanaclaw.
“Jack couldn't be sick...He was fine yesterday. I hope he's okay..”
Vil rushed into Savanaclaw, gasping for air. The rapid tapping of his high heels echoed in the hallway as Vil headed towards Jack's room.
“Jack? It’s me! Is everything okay?” Vil knocked, then opened the door immediately. But his movement stopped halfway when he saw what was going on inside.
“Vil-san?!” Ruggie jumped up from Jack's bed in fright.
“Can you explain what's going on here?” Vil asked in shock.
“It's a long story.” Ruggie sighed and looked down at the shy little white wolf clinging to his leg.
...
“So yes, now here we are…” Ruggie finished his story.
“I see…” Vil nodded. He examined the little wolf hiding his face in Ruggie's shoulder. Jack had changed back to his nine-year-old form due to a potion accident. He looked exactly like when Vil had first met him.“And Crewel is working on the antidote?” Vil asked and wanted to stroke the fluffy white ears out of kindness and reassurance. However, Jack pulled away in fright and hid his face even more in Ruggie's shoulder. The hyena looked at Vil apologetically.
“Yes, we rushed to him first in the morning. Crewel said he was working as fast as he could, but he didn't expect to be finished before tomorrow.”
“I see.” Vil nodded again, staring at his hands clasped in his lap. Ruggie sighed deeply and pulled the little wolf off of him, who was resisting the move, and pushed him into Vil's lap.
“Here, take care of him! I need to eat something because I'm starving, I’ve not eaten since morning. I'll bring you something on the way back.” And he was already outside the door. The other two blinked in surprise after the hyena escaped immediately.
Vil looked down at little Jack, curled up in his shyness. What a sweet sight it was! Vil admired the current Jack, his perseverance, his courage, his stubbornness and, not to mention, his physique (wow, those muscles...), but this little fluffball was adorable! Vil was flooded with memories. The days they spent throwing snowballs and building snowmen until the cold stung their noses completely red. And when Jack took him to see the aurora on his birthday...
“Hi Jack.” Vil greeted him kindly.
“Hi…” The little wolf mumbled confusedly. And that was the end of the conversation. An awkward silence fell between them, pressing heavily on Vil's shoulders, so he sighed deeply and tried to stroke the soft ears again, unable to resist the temptation. This time Jack let Vil’s purple-painted nails sink into his hair and leave soothing little caresses in it.
“You're so cute…” Vil whispered to himself in a low voice.
“You always say that, Vil…” Jack mumbled, but he couldn't help but enjoy the caress. He leaned into the gentle hand like a puppy.
“Do you remember me?”
Ruggie mentioned that Jack doesn't remember anything that happened since he was nine years old. So he has no memories of the NRC or his friends from there. He only clung to Ruggie because he smelled of donuts. But then that means that little Vil has already met this Jack. But then why did Jack act so scared earlier?
“Of course I remember you, Vil. You are very hard to forget...I recognized you immediately as soon as you walked in…” Jack's voice was getting quieter with each sentence, in his embarrassment. His cheeks blushed cutely and his ears drooped a little.
“Oh, really?” Vil giggled.
"You are even more beautiful now…But…” Jack started again uncertainly. “From now on you can only live in my memories. Because you're leaving me and I'll never see you again…” Little Jack's shy smile twisted into tears.
Vil had never seen Jack cry, not even when they were little. Jack always stubbornly held back his tears no matter what happened. He didn't cry even when Vil told him that they were going to move away. At that time, Vil thought that Jack simply didn't care about him, and was even glad that he would not bother him anymore. But it seems he was very wrong. Jack just wanted to look grown-up in front of Vil. Not cry and act brave, while losing his favorite person perhaps forever. Jack has never mentioned, even after life brought them together again, that he felt this way. He was nothing more than an abandoned puppy... Vil's heart sank. He hugged the whimpering wolf. He held it tightly in his arms.
“That's not true, Jack. I'm not gone forever. The universe can't separate us.”
“Really? You're not leaving me forever? Will we meet again?” Little Jack asked through his tears.
“Of course. We'll meet again in the future. How could I leave my favorite little wolf forever?” Vil playfully poked the wolf's nose, just like he did when they were children.
“And what will I be like in the future? Will I be stronger? Will I run faster than I do now?” Those sparkling eyes completely softened Vil’s heart.
“Yes, you will be stronger and run as fast as the wind. But your determination and your strong attachment to your goals will not change anything. And I love that about you.” Vil hugged the little wolf tightly again.
“Does that mean we are still friends?”
“Yes, and even more than that.”
“Best friends?!” The excited sparkling golden eyes made Vil laugh.
“Yes, little one. Best friends.” Who sometimes kiss.” He added in his mind, but didn't say it out loud, so as not to spoil the innocence of this golden flower.
“I'm very happy about that. I love you, Vil…” Jack muttered in a cloudy voice, and the next moment a sleeping head bumped into Vil's shoulder.
“I love you too.”Vil whispered. “Forever.”
Carefully, so as not to wake the sleeping little wolf, he laid him down and covered him with a fluffy blanket.
When Ruggie returned, he found them both lost in their dreams, snuggled together under the covers. Ruggie silently backed out of the room, but not before snapping a few photos of the sleeping couple. Not for blackmail purposes at all... No way.
And it's a whole other story how the next morning, the teenage Jack Howl woke up in the arms of his beloved, completely stunned, as the memories of the previous day attacked him. Even his ears were completely red. But no one needs to know about that.